Start-Transcript

Start a transcript of a command shell session, record the session to a text file.

Syntax
      Start-Transcript [-Path] string] [-Force] [-noClobber]
              [-Append] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [CommonParameters]
Key
   -Path string
       The path to the transcript file. 

   -Force
       Override restrictions that prevent the command from succeeding, apart
       from security settings. e.g. override a files read-only attribute.

   -NoClobber 
       Do not overwrite an existing file.

   -Append 
       Add the new transcript to the end of an existing file.

   -WhatIf
       Describe what would happen if you executed the command without
       actually executing the command.

   -Confirm
       Prompt for confirmation before executing the command.

Start-Transcript creates a record of a PowerShell session in a text file. The transcript file includes all commands typed and all the console output.

If no path is specified, Start-Transcript will use the path in the value of the $Transcript global variable. If this variable has not been set, Start-Transcript will store the transcripts in $Home\My Documents\PowerShell_transcript.<time-stamp>.txt

Under Windows, Start-Transcript will create UTF-8 files with BOM by default.
Start-Transcript -Append partially matches an existing encoding, it will correctly match encodings with a BOM, but will default to potentially lossy ASCII encoding in the absence of one.
This can be configured by setting the $PSDefaultParameterValues preference variable.
Under PowerShell Core edition, the encoding defaults to BOM-less UTF-8

Examples

Start a transcript:

PS C:\> Start-Transcript -path c:\docs\MyTranscript.txt

Start a transcript in the Current Directory:

PS C:\> $CurrentDir = resolve-path .
PS C:\> $log = $CurrentDir.Path + "\install-windevcluster-demo.log"
PS C:\> Start-transcript $log
...
PS C:\> Stop-Transcript

n.b. The Current Directory may not be the same as the location of the currently running script.

“Scholars who contemplate on their thoughts and translate them into actions are the ones who are really great and noble” ~ Rig Veda

Related PowerShell Cmdlets

Stop-Transcript - Stop the transcription process.
Equivalent bash command: Script - Start a transcript of a shell session.